Alex Jones, a radio host for the US radio show Infowars, was convicted on Wednesday ( ) to pay another nearly US$ 1 billion (about R$ 5 billion) for libel, for saying on air that the Sandy Hook School massacre of 1200 was a hoax invented by the US government.415966
Family members and FBI agent William Aldenberg – who says he has been the target of persecution – sued Jones over the hoax allegations. The money will be divided between 10 victims’ relatives and Aldenberg.
The broadcaster’s content about the massacre received about of 550 million views from 2012 The 2018. Relatives of the shooting victims say they were the target of harassment and death threats from Jones’ followers.415966 The communicator has yet to face a third trial regarding Sandy Hook’s victims. In August, in the first action in the case, he was ordered to pay more than BRL 67 million.415966
According to the American newspaper National Review, Jones says he doesn’t have the money to pay the amount determined by the court and that Infowars’ bankruptcy would protect the company for now.415966
Jones’ attorney, Norm Pattis, responded to the verdict on Wednesday by suggesting the families were “used for political purposes.” “My heart goes out to the families, we live in divided times,” he added. “They were armed and used for political purposes in this country, in my opinion, and today is a very, very, very dark day for free speech.”
